And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (7) And all the men were about twelve.
This is a very interesting record of the Church. I beg the Reader's close, attention to it. There is no little difficulty in discovering, what class of disciples those were. It is said, that they bad been baptized into John's baptism; and yet had never heard, whether there were any Holy Ghost. It is very strange this, because John the Baptist himself, is said to have been filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, Luke 1:15. And, it is most certain, that John entered on his office of preaching repentance, and commanding the people to believe on him that should come after him, by the immediate influence and direction of the Spirit. Yea, John declared, that his knowledge of the Person of Christ his Lord, was wholly derived from the Spirit's teaching. He that sent me to baptize with water, (said John), the same said unto me; upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, (said John), and bare record that this is the Son of God, John 1:25-34. So that John preached of the Holy Ghost, as well as of Christ, to all the people. And John taught those he baptized, to observe the vast difference between Christ's Person and Ministry, and his, by this very circumstance, that Jesus baptized his people with the Holy Ghost. I indeed, (said John), baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, Matthew 3:11. All these things very fully prove, that as John preached of the Holy Ghost, all his disciples must have heard of Him; and therefore the expression here used, that they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost, could not possibly mean, that they were altogether ignorant of His Being, and Godhead.
I am inclined to think, that those disciples were such as had never known, or experienced the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, upon their own hearts and consciences: and therefore might, in the strictest sense of the words, be truly said to have never heard, in respect to any Saving knowledge, whether there were any Holy Ghost, And, Reader! pause over the thought, (for it is a very solemn one), and say, how many in this our day, who like those men are called disciples, and like them are supposed to believe also, who, if called upon; could give no better account of themselves than these persons. They are Christians, because born under the meridian of Christianity. They are believers, as far as creeds and prayer-books can make them so, and no further. They assent to the truths of the Gospel because they have never troubled themselves to enquire about them; and therefore take them up on trust. And, thus thousands live, and it is to be feared, thousands die; as ignorant whether there be any Holy Ghost, as to any real conversion of the heart towards God, by His sovereign and Almighty Power, as those unenlightened nations of the earth, to whom the Lord hath not sent the Gospel. Reader! hath the Lord made you to differ from such? Have you received the Holy Ghost since you learnt of him only by the hearing of the ear; or formed your belief from the creed or the prayer-book?
If my views of the persons here spoken of in this Chapter, whom Paul found at Ephesus, be correct; what a beautiful account is given of the real conversion of the heart towards God? Surely here was a renewal of the day of Pentecost. It was not equal in number, neither was the descent of God the Holy Ghost accompanied with equal splendor and glory; but the sovereignty of his power, and the blessed effects of his grace, were the same. Some have thought, that those persons were truly converted, when the Apostle met them; and that what is said here of their ignorance of the Holy Ghost, is not intended to say, that they had never heard of the Holy Ghost in his divine office of convincing of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; but as ordaining to the ministry. And that now meeting with Paul, and receiving the extraordinary gifts of God the Spirit, they entered on the ministry. And this opinion is formed from what is said, that when the Holy Ghost came on them, they were blessed with the same gifts as the Apostles; for they spake with tongues and prophesied, Acts 2:4
I am far from setting up any opinion of mine, in opposition to this. And, it is possible, that this might be the case. But, there is another difficulty which then ariseth; in that they were re-baptized. It doth not appear, that any of the Eleven Apostles had any other water baptism than John 's, if they had that; for even of that we are not certain. The Lord commanded them to baptize others, when they should have been baptized with the Holy Ghost but we never read of any water baptism enjoined them by the Lord for themselves, Compare Matthew 28:19 with Acts 1:5. Nay, Christ himself had no other water-baptism than John 's, Matthew 3:13 to the end. And there was no water-baptism made use of at the day of Pentecost, in the three thousand the Holy Ghost came down upon, in that glorious display of his power. So that, on the supposition, that these persons were converted before Paul met them, and were now ordained to the ministry by the Holy Ghost; the re-baptism is totally different from what was observed by Christ and his Apostles. The Apostles were all acquainted with the regenerating influence of the Holy Ghost, before their ordination to the ministry on the day of Pentecost. See, in proof, John 14:17. And their qualification for the ministry, Jesus bid them wait for at Jerusalem. See Luke 24:49. But having stated both opinions, I leave the Reader, under divine teaching, to form his own judgment, only first praying that the Lord Jesus may bring the souls of all his redeemed, under the continual and unceasing baptisms of God the Holy Ghost!